Gwen, Surface of the Colony Moon, on board the Hive ship

“What?”

“You heard me,” he replied.

“You’re going to spank me? What for?” The guy was insane if he thought he was going to get his hands on me—at least that way. I was all for the fucking part.

“For putting yourself in danger. For not listening to a single thing I said. For taking on nine Hive all by yourself.”

The way he said the word nine had me taking a step back. His face was red, tendons in his neck becoming extended. His fangs were hanging low, just over the edge of his bottom lip. Yeah, he was pissed.

“But I didn’t want you to get hurt. It’s not like you could listen to them, to know their thoughts. To kill them.”

He took a step closer. “You think me weak, mate?”

I shook my head, swallowed. The intensity on his face as he toed off his boots, stripped out of his clothes, made me nervous.

“No. Of course not.”

“You did what you thought you must. I can’t go back and change it now. But I can change your mind about doing something so reckless in the future.”

Before I could turn around and run off—not that there was any place for me to really go on the small ship—he had me tossed over his shoulder. His hand came down on my butt as he walked me toward… somewhere. Since I was upside down and staring at his taut, bare ass, I was a little distracted.

Besides, that one swat stung. His hand was huge!

“You will not rush into battle alone, do you understand me, mate? It is my right and my privilege to protect you. I can’t do that if you leave me behind.”

He dropped me onto a bed and I watched as he put his hands on his hips. He stood like a warrior, all sinewy muscles, strong physique and gorgeous cock. I’d pricked his ego by running off and taking care of the Hive myself. I could do it without him. I had done it. Showed him I wasn’t weak. But proving it only hurt him. Not only emotionally because he was angry, but deep down in his very DNA. He was hard-wired to protect a female. Cherish her. Keep her safe from harm. Away from lunatics like the Hive. Yet I’d taken that ability from him.

Now, he was gaining his control back. And spanking me would be proof of it, that I was with him, safe and that he once again had control over me.

Like he ever did. But I could let him think so. Let him get himself back in check, on even ground. Knowing I could do this to him was heady, powerful stuff. That I could practically bring him to his knees with emotion was intense.

I put my feet on the bed, spread them wide, let him look his fill. See all of me. “I’m sorry, Mak. But you know I can take care of myself. I proved that today.”

“What if there had been fifty Hive? A hundred? What if they had advanced weaponry? No. You do not fight alone. Not anymore.” He devoured me with his eyes, his cock straining toward me. Big. Eager. I knew that cock, knew it would stretch me wide and be hard. Rough. Wild. God, I wanted him wild.

“Come here, Mak.”

He shook his head, his gaze locked like a laser on my wet pussy lips. “You want your spanking on your pussy?” he asked.

Instantly, I closed my knees. “What? No!”

“Then roll over and present that ass.”

I had to admit—to myself, I wasn’t going to tell Mak this—his bossiness in the bedroom made me hot. I didn’t want my pussy spanked, sheesh, but I did want his dirty talk. And I didn’t mind that hot hand on my ass, either.

And so I rolled over and up onto my hands and knees, curved my back so my ass was up and presented to him.

“Ah, mate, I love seeing my handprint all pink and pretty on your ass. Now to add a few more.”

He spanked me again and I rocked forward. I hissed at the sting but bent my head down, inspected the weeping tip of his cock through the vee of my legs, the way it jumped at every small sound I made. Testing my power over him, I shifted back, closer to him, making sure he could see the wetness coating my aching pussy. His spanking stung, but it didn’t hurt. Not really. Not enough to counteract the thrill I had submitting to him, letting him do what he wanted with me.

All my life had been about fighting. Resisting. First at home, then in the military and Coalition ReCon. Even more when the Hive had caught and tortured me, turned me into what I was now. Arriving on the Colony had offered no relief, for as soon as I appeared, the males began fighting over me. Following me. Trying to seduce me. Win me over. Claim me for their own.

But I’d chosen Mak. I wanted his touch, his hands on my body. His mind attuned to my needs. I needed him to care. And right now, he trembled with emotions I didn’t dare name, even as he spanked my bottom. Made my skin burn and my heart explode with love and lust and trust. I’d never trusted anyone the way I did Makarios of Kronos, the rebel, smuggler, criminal. Because he was mine.

“This won’t be a full spanking because we don’t have time. I want to be balls deep inside you within two minutes. But you will know the feel of my hand, to know what will happen the next time you decide to run off to fight the Hive by yourself.”

Another spank landed.

“Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” I breathed. The sting was spreading, morphing into something different, something… primordial. A caveman claiming his woman. Well, this wasn’t a claiming, but it was going to be a good fucking. I was primed and ready. Needy. No doubt he could see my pussy was wet, practically dripping for him.

“Ah, I like the sound of that obedience.”

Looking over my shoulder at him, I could tell he liked it a lot. He wasn’t as restrained as I thought. His face was tense, but his gaze heated. Every line of his body screamed power. Even his cock, which stuck straight out from the dark nest of curls, ruddy, hard, pulsing. There was pre-cum slipping from the tip, eager for me.

“Please,” I whispered, hoping he’d fuck me. Now.

I needed it. The adrenaline was bleeding away and I needed it. Needed a release, needed to feel real. Human. Alive. I needed Mak.

He stepped up closer to the bed, hooked his right arm about my waist to pull me up so I was lifted completely off my knees. His cock prodded my entrance and he aligned his thighs to mine then thrust up in one hard stroke.

Impaled, I gasped, bucked. He didn’t give me time to adjust to his massive size. Just took. Controlled. Dominated. He pushed me away and pulled me to him like I weighed nothing. Fucked me. Filled me. The lower half of my body was in the air and I had no control, no traction, could only take what he gave me.

With a groan, he increased his pace, lifted my shoulders off the bed with his left hand, cupped my breast as he held my back to his chest. My head fell back against his shoulder. When I melted against him, he turned, walking us toward a smooth, cold wall. He pressed my body to the wall and moved both hands to the underside of my thighs, spreading me open, holding me up, fucking me from behind like he’d never get enough.

He fucked me like this, our bodies meshed together. Hard, wild. Rough.

The sound of flesh slapping filled the small room. The scent of fucking lingered in the air. My pussy quivered around him, not being given any time to adjust. My tender bottom was given no reprieve as his hips pressed into it over and over.

“You will come, mate.”

The idea of coming just because he commanded it would have been laughable. Before. I could barely come from a guy alone, not without some kind of stimulation of my clit. Especially like this. But I’d been primed, not just from the battle with the Hive, but the battle with Mak for dominance. Power. Control.

I might be powerful outside these walls, but here, now, his cock filling me hard and deep, unrelenting, filling me with his seed, he held the power. The harsh growl as he climaxed proved it.

And I was willing to give myself to him. Eager to surrender control, to stop fighting. Whatever he wanted to give me, I’d take. Whatever he asked, I’d give. Everything. And so I came. My scream bounced off the walls and loosened something in me, in my heart.

God, I wanted Mak. Forever. Even if it meant submitting to him. Because in the end, I was the one who received the greatest gift.

I forgot everything but him. The Hive, the governor, the Colony. Nexus 4 and even my blueness, the torture and pain. The war. I forgot everything outside the room because all that mattered was Mak.

Gwen, Hive Ship, Integration Chamber

“Come here, Mak.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him through the door into what passed as a mini Hive medical station.

The Coalition called them Integration Stations because these were the rooms where newly acquired biological specimens were fitted with new Hive integrations. A very diplomatic term for what the Coalition worlds considered torture chambers, the Hive who lived and worked on these ships considered their doctors and medical stations.

He stalled just outside the doorway. “I’m not going in there.”

“Yes, you are. I have a plan.”

He allowed me to pull him into the room without a fight, for which I was grateful. “This is our new medical unit, on our new ship, so you’d better get used to it.”

“I will use it when necessary,” he replied, his tone grim. “Other than that, I will never set foot in this room.”

“Fine.” I let him go and rummaged through several storage spaces until I found what I was looking for. With a happy smile, I walked back to my mate and held up the small glass specimen tube. “Bite the top of this.”

“What?”

“Bite into this. Stick one of those fangs through the seal and get some venom in there. I want to analyze it.” He took a step back from me, shaking his head. God, he was huge. And sexy. And so fucking hot I wanted to tear that armor off him and jump him again.

Thanks to the onboard S-Gen unit, we were both fully dressed in newly generated battle armor. His, a dark black and brown camouflage pattern that matched the rest of the Coalition Fleet. Me? I was dressed in armor as well, but it was a deep, striking blue, the patterns designed to match the exact flow of colors on my Hive skin. Mak didn’t want me going into battle again without armor, and this way, I could still tempt the Nexus with exactly what was underneath. If he just skimmed me with those creepy dark eyes, he might not even notice that the blue curves were armored, and not natural flesh.

But then, what was natural to a monster?

“Gwen, my bite is deadly. There is no reason for me to do this.”

“Humor me.” I walked to him slowly and melted into his body, pressing my lips to the center of his chest because as tall as I was, that was all I could reach when he was wearing his boots. “Please? Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top?”

His entire body shuddered and I knew I’d won. “I don’t know what a cherry is, but I’ll take some pussy on top later as payment instead.”

Laughing, I lifted the specimen tube to his mouth, trying not to show how much his dirty words affected me. “I’ll go cowgirl on you anytime you want, Mak.”

He grabbed my wrist as I was about to stab his fang into the end of the tube. “What is cowgirl?”

I grinned at him and made sure he could feel my free hand exploring the stone hard muscles of his ass. “You lay down on your back and I ride your cock.”

“Like that first time?”

“Yes.”

A growl rumbled from his chest. “Yes. As soon as we’re done with this mission.”

“I agree with that.”

“I will also require you to be cowgirl on my lips, mate. I will taste you again before you come, and I will do it with you straddling my face.”

“Deal.” As if I’d ever say no to having his wicked lips and tongue working on me.

I shoved his fang into the vial and waited a few seconds for the vacuum tube to do its job and the venom to drip into the bottom. When I had several drops of the pearly liquid, I pulled it away from him and swatted his ass as hard as I dared, then scampered out of reach to the analysis station. Loading his venom into one of the small ports, I found myself humming. Happy. About to go into battle with an evil that had been at war with the Coalition for centuries… and I was happy.

The data was immediate, the display clearly stating what Mak had said. His venom was poisonous. But, it also asked if I wished an antidote to be made and I quickly pushed the button for yes.

The ship could work on an antidote while we took care of a few small problems on the planet’s surface. And then? I’d take a dose, climb on his cock for that cowgirl ride and shove Mak’s fangs into my shoulder myself if I had to. He was mine. If he wasn’t leaving me, wasn’t heading home to Rogue 5 and Kronos, then he was going to claim me properly.

End. Of. Discussion.

Mak watched me, arms crossed, clearly not amused. But he didn’t try to stop me. That was one of the things I loved about him. He let me be me.

Once the machine was doing its thing, I turned to him with a smile, ran and jumped into his arms. He caught me, of course. I knew he would.

“Kiss me, Mak. Kiss me, and then let’s go kill monsters.”

“Whatever makes you happy, female.”

I smiled at him, stroked my hand down his rugged cheek. “You, Mak. You make me happy.”

He froze, staring into my eyes as if I’d shocked him. Before I could go all misty eyed, or start spouting I love you or other silly nonsense, I kissed him. Hard. Fast. With everything, telling him without words how much he meant to me. Because the truth was, I wasn’t sure I could beat Nexus 4. The Nexus units were powerful. Tricky. Evil. Completely without conscience or morals. Their minds were so strong, it had been a freaking miracle I’d escaped the first time. And now I was going back for more. Voluntarily.

But I was going to try. I was stronger now. A lot stronger. Plus, I had Mak.

I pulled back and turned away, heading for the cockpit and the co-pilot’s seat before he could say anything. I was a good pilot, but he was exceptional, and I wasn’t so proud that I couldn’t admit he was far better than I.

“Gwen.” His voice called to me, but I didn’t stop or turn around.

“Come on, Mak. We’ve only got fifteen minutes to get down there.” I didn’t want to hear words of love or devotion or the word mate right now. I needed to go into this battle with nothing to lose. I needed to focus my entire being on defeating Nexus 4.

I needed to protect Makarios.